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The U.S. Department of Transportation today is launching an important road test involving 3,000 vehicles in and around Ann Arbor, Mich., to test the potentially life-saving concept of vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology.

The auto industry has been working on so-called V2V technology for a long time but this is the first large-scale test to see how well it works in the real world. "Today is a big moment for automotive safety," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who helped kick off the program this morning at the University of Michigan campus. "This cutting-edge technology offers real promise for improving both the safety and efficiency of our roads. "

By communicating with other cars, as well as with road signs and traffic lights, vehicles will not only be able to avoid most accidents, but will also move more smoothly through traffic, reducing congestion. That should make for easier commutes.

“People talk about intelligent vehicles, or cars talking to each other, like it’s something out of The Jetsons,” said Mike Shulman, technical leader for Ford Active Safety Research and Innovation. “But it shouldn’t sound like science fiction. Mostly, the cars will be sending messages to each other and people won’t even know about it except on the rare occasions when they need a warning or help understanding what’s going on around their vehicle.”

U of M's Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) will conduct the road test over the next year using 3,000 cars, trucks and buses supplied by volunteers including General Motors and Ford Motor. The vehicles will send and receive electronic data messages about their location, speed and direction of travel. They can also receive Wi-Fi messages to know when a light will turn red, whether there's a sharp curve ahead and other surface conditions. Importantly, the data is then translated into a driver warning when a hazardous traffic scenario occurs such as an impending collison at a blind intersection or a car changing lanes in your blind spot. The communication technologies can be integrated with existing safety features such as forward collision warning and blind zone alert.

One goal of the research is to help regulators and carmakers establish industry standards to make sure all cars are speaking the same language.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says V2Vtechnology could help drivers avoid or reduce the severity of four out of five vehicle crashes (at least where drivers are not impaired). "Vehicle-to-vehicle communication has the potential to be the ultimate game-changer in roadway safety – but we need to understand how to apply the technology in an effective way in the real world," said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland.

Still, the technology isn't far away. “This program will help GM determine a timeline for introducing V2V technology on our vehicles, globally, in the second half of this decade,” said Hariharan Krishnan, GM R&D technical fellow for Perception and Vehicle Control Systems. Within five years after introduction, we could all be driving talking cars.